


A Fox in Paradise

by Eriendor



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: F/M, Kitsune
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27829078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eriendor/pseuds/Eriendor
Summary: Ayumu, a five tailed Kitsune arrives in Gensokyo. A man used to living alone is thrust into the host of the Moriya, bringing along the powers of diplomacy and trickery along the way. Perhaps a conspiracy is brewing...Originally a quest on Spacebattles.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Arrival in Gensokyo

Chapter 1

Tokyo is the same as it has been these past three hundred years, crowded, cramped, but wonderful in its own way, new construction may be done, and the faces may change, but what makes Tokyo... Tokyo has never changed.

Not to you anyway.

It is a city of dreamers, thieves, and opportunists.

In other words... Humans, it opens its door wide for those willing to do what it takes to claim their desires, though it has a tendency of leading those blind to its dangers to unfortunate ends.

Unfortunately the city has nothing for you anymore, not for your kind.

Youkai have been leaving the city for years, either walking the way, or boarding the trains.

You didn’t board the first train the Gap Master sent out, there was a mass exodus of Youkai, the forgotten, but you stayed behind, you were fond of this city, and its people.

That was 1947.

Every ten years another invitation would be sent out, giving promise of a paradise, this “Gensokyo”, and every time more of us would leave, by 1994 there was hardly any left to board the trains.

It wasn’t until most children couldn’t even see you that you decided to leave.

The year is 2017.

\- - -

You clutch the ticket in your hand as you enter the train station, busy as always with people bumping into each other and rushing about, lost within their own mental schedules. At least you’re not out of place, slicked back black hair, a nice business suit, you’d look like a model salary man.

That would be of course if they could even see you.

You head through the station to the designated loading station, there are a few Youkai here already, waiting patiently for the train to “paradise”.

Compared to the first exodus there are hardly more than a dozen, and at that mostly Tsukumogami, a rose haired woman dressed in a white coat is chatting amicably with a violet haired woman carrying a biwa.

This could almost pass off as normal, if not for the drum set floating behind the red haired woman, and that would certainly get attention.

Though once again, nobody can see them.

Beyond an errant child trying to point out the mysterious flying object to his over stressed parent, nobody pays them mind.

You sit down on a nearby bench and choose to people watch until the train arrives. The tsukumogami couples are joined by another, with light brown hair carrying a koto.

No matter, you suppose if they are new arrivals they’ll be just as lost as you are in this supposed paradise.

You look at the ticket in your hand, a golden colored, paper slip, with purple trimming; it bears little more than directions to the station and your name and species. Ayumu, fox spirit. It gives precious little information about you, but that is in itself by design. For the moment however you have precious little to do while you wait.

Your eyes drift over to the tsukumogami down the way, and a small smile comes across your face. You give yourself a quick look over. Your black business suit sits all tight and proper, with a dark red tie running down it, matching your eyes. No jewelry... not in your line of work at least, besides a simple golden ring on your right ring finger, a memento of sorts from your father.

Alright... Now just head on over, hands on your pockets as you do so casually, passing through a group of businessmen in the process. As you get closer you pick up on the conversation they are having.

The brown-haired girl waves her arms wildly as she speaks. “I heard there are dragons! Big as mountains flying through the air!" Your ears twitch. She's so excited that she's lost her volume control it seems. "It’s got to be the coolest thing! I can’t want to see it!”

The violet-haired girl giggles and gives the other girl an affectionate pat on the head. “I’m sure they do, and we’ll find out together, okay?”

You give a small cough, holding up your ticket prominently. The two girls turn around, regarding you with a measure of pleasant surprise, breaking out into smiles as they pull out tickets of their own.

“Hello,” you say, bowing slightly, "My name is Ayumu, I take it by your tickets you’re on the train to paradise as well?” You put on your best smile as you straighten up.

It's honestly been awhile since you've seen other Youkai.

The red haired woman looks up from reading what appears to be a pamphlet, giving a smile to match your own. "I am Horikawa Raiko, pleased to make your acquaintance," she replies with a curt bow. There's a certain character to her voice that caresses your ear. Musical in tone perhaps.

The other two bow in perfect sync, like some sort of choreographed move. "Tsukumo Benben," says the violet-haired girl.

"And I'm Yatsuhashi!" chirps the brown-haired girl. She throws her arm around Benben, pulling her into a tight hug, much to her visible discomfort. "Me and Benben are sisters!"

“And, yes, we are headed to Gensokyo,” Raiko adds still smiling, looking fondly at the two sisters.

"That's good then, always nice to have company." You hold out a hand to shake and she takes it eagerly. "Could you tell me more about Gensokyo perhaps? I'm afraid I hardly know more than rumor myself." You ask.

"Ah, well, I do-" She starts speaking only to be cut off by a brown blur shoving itself in front of her.

The brown blur is, of course, Yatsuhashi. “It’s really beautiful! There are dragons and sky turtles and... and lots of other cool stuff!” she declares excitedly, her eyes shining with an almost childlike eagerness. You can’t help but smile at her excitability.

Raiko shrugs her shoulders, laughing at Yatsuhashi's enthusiasm. “Beyond things like that, I am afraid I cannot tell you more. We've only recently come into being ourselves."

"Oh? Newly created? That's rare these days."

Raiko shrugs her shoulders again. "Yes, we came into being about a month ago all together, to be honest I couldn't tell you how."

"Well, welcome to the world then I guess, here's hoping you find a nice life for yourselves in Gensokyo."

\- - -

You spend the next half hour or so just making small talk, you don't talk too much about yourself, but Yatsuhashi tells you plenty about them.

They were informed about Gensokyo and got information from a super friendly Tanuki with odd glasses.

Yatsuhashi's descriptions are unique to say the least, though you suppose she is still a child of sorts.

She couldn't tell you more about this Tanuki beyond that, a worker for Yukari? Or just the odd helpful raccoon.

As for Raiko, she seems to be acting as a mother figure to the two other Youkai, they are all technically the same age, but she is the most mature of the group.

Not to mention she appears visibly older as well.

Benben for her part mostly keeps to herself, idly plucking the strings of her instrument as she listens to the chatter.

Soon enough, the train arrives at one of the older platforms, a nearly abandoned one that takes a bit of walking to get to. The train itself looks no different from any of the other bullet trains around it in the station.

The only real marking on the train itself is a large purple eye on the side of it, and a band of the same color wrapping around. It has no number markers or information besides.

You eye the train itself with a bit of trepidation. No markings are to be expected since this isn’t an official train. Still, something about that eye makes you nervous. It seems to be looking at you wherever you turn your head. Of course, your nervousness is all compounded by the fact that this is, quite literally, your ride to a new life.

You take a deep breath. This isn't any time to be worrying. It's far too late for that at this point, and this is your last chance to board before...

You shake your head and take a look back over your shoulder at the city you've called home for a very long time now.

You'll miss it, most definitely, but there isn't anything here for you anymore.

"Something wrong?" Miss Horikawa asks, bringing you out of your musings.

You turn back to look at her, she's looking at you curiously. "Ah... No it's nothing, just lost in some thoughts."

"Well, then, let's get going!" She says happily.

Putting your worries aside, you follow Horikawa and the Tsukumogami up to the platform. As you step aboard the train, you spot several other youkai getting on, some you didn’t see in the lobby.

Maybe they were waiting somewhere else in the station.

Horikawa hurriedly glances at her ticket and then up at the seat numbers, slapping her self on the forehead. "Gah! Looks like we're in a completely different cabin." She shrugs again. "I guess this is where we say goodbye, then, Ayumu."

"No worries. I'm sure we'll see each other on the other side." You say with a small smile.

She chuckles. "Maybe. Just look for the floating drum set and you should be good." She starts walking down the cabin, throwing an arm up in a lazy wave.

"Bye-bye, Ayumu!" Yatsuhashi yells before her sister pulls her off the car and into the next one. You return the wave and watch as they move on the platform through the windows.

With no one left to talk to, you find your way to your cabin. You immediately notice something different from other trains as soon as you open the door. It’s remarkably clean inside... nearly spotless, in fact.

The trains you used to have to take for various “business meetings” were usually stinking of refuse, and looked the part as well. The doors close behind you, and you quickly scan the row numbers for your seat. As luck would have it you're pretty close to the front of the car, so it's not particularly hard to find.

As you move down the row to your seat, it becomes apparent that you actually have a seat-mate: a young woman wearing a rather long dress, it’s a long white cloth over a red skirt, topped off with what appears to be a scarf with a ruby clasp.

She doesn't pay you much mind as you sit down next to her. It looks like she's engrossed in a magazine, her eyes fixed on the pages as she slowly, quietly flips through them. You'd say something, but you're not sure if it's a good idea to interrupt her or not.

Come to think of it you didn't see her enter either, so this train must be making the rounds. You do suppose you have time to kill, and while curiosity did kill the cat, satisfaction brought it back.

You get back up and head through the back doors of the cabin, the doors automatically opening as you approach, leading into a small divider between the cabins, walking further you enter the next cabin. A quick glance confirms that as far as amenities are concerned it's the same, however there are at least other occupants here, though still sparse, there are a couple sitting in seats, some together, some alone.

As you start to move further ahead the door on the opposite sides open, revealing a young woman, the first thing you notice about her is her striking blue hair out from which stick two fins, the second being she's slowly pushing herself in on a wheelchair.

She slowly wheels herself into the cabin and parks behind a seat, glancing between the seat and her chair, she lets out a brief huff of annoyance before starting to slide herself from one seat to the next. With some noted difficulty as she briefly loses her grip and the chairs separate, leaving her awkwardly holding herself up.

You quickly hurry over and grasp the wheelchair, she blinks briefly in surprise before glancing at you.

“Please, allow me ma'am.”

A smile replaces her brief owlish look as she nods and uses the now braces wheelchair to slide herself into the seat. She then slides the rest of the way to the window and lays across the seat like one might on a couch, you notice that the leg portion of the kimono is buttoned and closed, almost turned into a sealed bag.

Your not quite sure what the explanation for that state of dress is, but it does certainly explain the necessity of the wheelchair.

She gets situated before looking back at you again.

“Thank you kind sir, can you please move the wheelchair closer?” She asks with a melodic tune to her voice. Perhaps a singer?

You dutifully move the wheelchair until it's pressing against the seat, as you prepare to ask if she perhaps would like you to store it somewhere she snaps her fingers, with a series of popping sounds you watch as the wheelchair folds itself until almost the size of a hand purse, which she deftly grabs from the air and stuffs into her sash.

She briefly bows her head towards you.

“Thank you once again kind sir, I'm afraid I'm not quite used to the wheelchair.” She admits somewhat bashfully. A slight blush dusting her cheeks.

You smile it away, stating that you were simply helping someone who looked like they needed assistance.

“Well then I thank you for being able to assist at the very least.” She states with a giggle.

After a brief pause she states,

“Please, won't you sit? I'm afraid we might be getting moving soon and I would truly enjoy a bit of gossip during the ride.” She asks you with a smile and tilt of her head.

You see no reason to disagree, company always speeds up travel, and you doubt how few passengers on board they care about assigned seating.

“I would be delighted to share in your company.” You smile and sit down in the seat across from her.

“I appreciate it.” She states with a smile and slight nod of her head.

“Oh!” She gasps, covering her mouth. “How terribly rude of me, my name is Wakasagi!” She nearly shouts it out through her covered mouth, it’s rather adorable actually.

“It’s quite alright, my name is Ayumu.” You state, grinning a little. “You were a bit distracted at the time.”

She smiles back. “So do you know anything of Gensokyo?”

You shake your head. “I’m afraid I’ve never been, though beyond Lady Yukari, I can admit I’ve never met someone from there to ask, as far as I’m aware, once you go it’s notably difficult to come back.”.

“Still, I’ve heard it’s quite pleasant, I’m afraid the only thing that held me back from going was prior obligations.” You admit.

“Oh?” She almost looks disappointed, “forgive me but I was hoping to learn a little before I arrive. I’m afraid I was made to go due to some... Difficulties. She states looking away. I do hope it is nice enough, though I suppose anyone wishes that of their new home,” she admits.

“Sorry to disappoint, still, if it makes you feel any better, it supposedly accommodates all forms of youkai, so it shouldn’t be any major problem. “

“Furthermore I’m sure Lady Yukar-“ You get cutoff by a loud voice.

“The train will now be departing, please stay in your seats for the duration of the journey.“A pleasant female voice states over the intercom.

Well, you suppose that’s that then, the train starts lurching forward as it leaves the station, quickly picking up speed as the landscape of Tokyo starts to pass by you.

“I’m sorry you were saying?” She states with a small giggle.

“Ah… yes as I was saying I’m sure lady Yukari keeps things in order well enough. Though I am curious how they keep order.” You admit, honestly quite curious the more you think about it.

As you finish the sentence a purple light washes over the cabin, the entirety of the inside is awash in purple glowing light, and the outside of the window has turned from the outskirts of Tokyo into a black void.

“Oh… oh my.” Wakasagi has shrunken back against her seat, staring at the void.

Eyes start appearing on the black, glancing around before locking on the train, and just as it started the light and eyes fade away, revealing a green, verdant landscape.

“We are now in Gensokyo, please collect your belongings and watch your steps exiting the train.” States the PA again.

Well, that was certainly an… interesting way to travel.

Wakasagi has quickly recovered from the shock it appears, as she has her face nearly pressed up against the glass as she stares in wonderment at the passing landscape.

You have to admit… the view is breathtaking, rolling hills mark the landscape, while in a distance you can see a mountain that dominates the landscape covered in trees.

As the train continues moving the view gradually shifts from hills and trees, to farmland, to finally country houses. You spot people milling about working the fields or moving around town, though at these speeds it’s impossible to tell if they are Youkai or not.

The train starts gradually slowing down until it comes to a complete stop. You can hear the pneumatics working as the doors open.

You suppose this is your stop. You quickly get up and start to head out of the train, thanking Wakasagi for the company. She confirmed that while she appreciated it she didn’t believe she’d have near the same difficulties getting off the train.

\- - -

The smell is the first thing that hits you. While you’ve been to the country before, rather hard not to being as old as you are, it’s been a long time since it’s been this… fresh. You glance around the platform taking in the sights.

The platform itself is made of wood, in rather stark contrast to the almost blindingly white metal train parked next to it, with a simple tin roof to cover it.

Several youkai are milling about the platform, most of them in groups, having traveled together, though you don’t see Raiko or the two sisters anywhere nor do you see your former seatmate come to think of it.

Through the exit of the station itself you can see a dirt path leading to a village off in the distance, mostly made up of wooden buildings as well. Next to the exit are three booths, each proudly proclaiming… religions? One stall is being managed by a Buddhist woman with rather… okay to be honest in most of the districts you worked in this hair might be startling, but in a place like this, gradient purple hair really sticks out.

Next to it is a stall being manned by apparently a Shinto girl, with a fair more normal hair color of blond, though what makes it rather is odd two dog ears sticking out of her head, a dog youkai?

And finally one stall manned by a teenage girl with bright green hair, preaching about some mountain gods of some sort, you wonder if it has any connection to that mountain you saw on the way over.

All three are offering to various youkai places of rest while they get settled, though it may not be as friendly as it appears, the woman with gradient hair and the woman with dog ears keep sending glares each other’s way.

How very interesting…


	2. Moriya

You’d rather not get involved with either of the two groups that look like they are about to come to blows however, so with little thought you start to wander over to the stand manned by the young girl with green hair. It is of simple wooden construction, appearing handmade, above which hangs a sign.

Moriya Shrine  
All Welcome!

As you approach you can hear the young woman shouting excitedly, though you notice she doesn't have anyone really listening to her or hanging around the stall, whether that is due to excitability, or the on closer inspection rather shoddy construction of her display is up for debate, either way you press onwards.

“All Youkai and Travelers welcome to the Moriya Shrine! Food and Board available in exchange for work!” she shouts over the din.

Ah, that would explain that at least, the other shrines appear to be housing people without the extra condition, still, a little work never hurt anybody and you walk up to the booth.

“We can guarantee protection and peaceful living in exchange for work and faith!” she shouts once again, glancing around, not seeming to have noticed your approach.

“Oo... who am I kidding...” the girl slumps her shoulders behind the stall.

You are now standing in front of the stall, where she seems not to have noticed you, she seems rather exhausted, perhaps she's been here awhile... 

You gently rap on the wood in front of her, startling her from her moping.

“Good morning ma'am... I'm afraid I'm rather new in town, could you tell me about your shrine?”

You seemed to have breathed the life back into her as she clasps her hands in front of herself bowing slightly. “Yes! I am Kochiya Sanae! I represent the wonderful Moriya Shrine, headed by the mighty and venerable Kanako Yasaka and the kind and wise Suwako Moriya!“

Two gods?

“We seek to aid those new to Gensokyo, we will provide food and housing in return for honest labor!”

“What form of labor?” you ask.

“Tending to the temple and assisting the shrine maidens in their tasks, we are constantly expanding and so require help in our mission to provide safety and lodging to travelers and those in need of shelter! Along with repairing some.... slight battle damage. “ She states, glancing to the side slightly.

“Battle damage?“ you ask, concern creeping into your voice.

“Yes, I'm afraid that in her... godly duties lady Kanako has to fight miscreants and those seeking to do harm, unfortunately that can be at the expense of the building. Nothing major I assure you!“ She crouches down behind the stall and quickly produces a stack of pamphlets, handing one to you. You give it a glance.

It's mostly the same things she just spoke about, though it does go into greater detail on some things, namely that you do not need to worship the gods in question, doing repairs and labor provides faith as is, in exchange you will receive full meals and lodging in the shrine itself.

Not a bad deal all things considered, though you must wonder what could have possibly have happened to go after labor so aggressively, to the point where it's part of their pitch. The other stalls have many more people milling about them, in fact you are the only person anywhere near this stall.

“If you wish to come with me I will be leaving in a half hours time!” She states excitedly. Giving you the biggest smile you've seen in weeks.

While it certainly wasn’t the best sales pitch, any shelter sounds good at the moment, and you’d rather not get in between two apparently rival shrines.

“I would be delighted to come with you, Miss Sanae.” You say gratefully.

She goes stock still, standing there with her hands still clasped together. The smile from before frozen on her face.

Then all at once, life springs back into her.

“Yes!” she hops up and down, hands in the air. “You will absolutely not regret this!” you watch with amusement as she’s jumping around like a child who was just given the pony they’ve always wanted.

She catches herself after a moment and gives a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I’ve been out here awhile, you’re the first person who has been interested.”

You chuckle. “It’s quite alright, where is this shrine located?”

“Did you see the mountain as you came in?” You nod.

“It’s at the peak”.

Your eyes widen, “that’s…. quite the distance.”

She waves her hand. “It’s okay! We had the kappa install an aerial tram to the top of the mountain.”

Ah… that’s helpful you suppose, still, not quite sure how they expect people to make that journey regularly. Who knows, maybe the other shrines are flying or something equally inconvenient.

You mill about watching the passersby for the next half hour or so, nothing of particular note happening, waiting for the time to close shop as it were. The sun is just beginning to set on the horizon when you hear Sanae call your name. Come to think of it, wasn't it morning when you left? Either you've traveled longer than you thought or time works differently here.

You turn to look at her, she's waving to you from the stall, a backpack slung around her shoulders, you can see the pamphlets inside weighing down the bag quite a bit, though she doesn't appear to be struggling with it.

“Don't you need to disassemble the stall?” You ask, wondering how she planned on moving all the material.

“Workers from the village will be coming to deconstruct the station tomorrow morning,” she replies sounding somewhat relieved.

Nodding, you follow her out of the station, which at this point had almost entirely cleared out except for a few stragglers, you do notice you are the only one following Sanae out. She pops her shoulders and gives a sigh of relief as she gets into the clearing behind the station, turning to smile at you.

“We have about a 40 minute walk to the tram from here,” she states pointing towards the large forest in front of the mountain. You nod and start walking behind her, making your way to the large forest. Glancing around as you do so, while the village you'd guess is a good mile or two from the station, it is still quite active out here, you can spot several farmhouses lining the road towards the mountain, most in rather poor condition, but still inhabited.

“So the humans live outside of their village as well?” You ask.

“Some do, most don't, those out here who require the extra land to feed the village have protection treaties with the local Tengu communities, for a share of the crop the farms remain protected.” Sanae explains.

That's rather progressive, you thought all humans would be huddled in the village from what you had heard, while you don't doubt the ability of Youkai and Humans to coexist, you'd expect them to be a bit less friendly out here in the 'wild' so to speak.

There certainly weren't any Tengu anymore in Tokyo.

\- - -

The farmland quickly fades away to forest as you leave the confines as the human domain, It's less of a hike than you expected, as the path is clear cut and easy to navigate, Sanae walking it with confidence. A good half hour has passed since you started walking, most of it in relatively peaceful silence Sanae having seemed to have zoned out as she started walking the way towards the mountain, the path is gradually sloping upwards as it cuts through the trees, you haven't seen any sign of habitation beyond the path since you entered the forest.

Then, as if someone decided to start playing the sound again, you can hear the crashing of a waterfall as you round a bend, and in a clearing ahead you can see a massive waterfall pouring down from high in the mountain, forming a large lake. The forest breaking around it.

Your eyes widen as you see your first glimpse of civilization since entering the forest. A small stone building sits near the lake, based around a large platform holding a tram, the cables running up the mountain. Which even from here is a good thousand feet above to its peak.

But what really catches your eye is some young women by the lake, apparently wasting the time away fishing by the shore, talking amicably among themselves, seemingly not noticing or not caring about your presence.

Slightly befuddled you ask, “are they members of the shrine?”

“Hmm?” Sanae seems to break out of the trance she has been in for the past while as she walked the path, and gives a quick glance over, “oh no, those are some of the local Kappa who help maintain the tram." She states somewhat tiredly as you enter the stone structure.

Barring a few benches and an empty desk, it's barren, and Sanae quickly shuffles through it towards the tram. She quickly boards it and drops her bag near the door, rubbing her shoulders as she collapses on one of the seats near the window, the tram itself wouldn't look out of place in the 1960's, but seems built sturdily enough.

You grab the seat in the opposite aisle and stare out the window as the tram starts moving with a jerk and a hiss, slowly moving its way up the mountain.

Watching the sun you'd suppose you'd still have about an hours worth of sunlight left as you look over the forest, while you couldn't see them from the ground from up here you can see breaks and clearings in the forest where there are structures, some appearing to be small villages or trading posts from the looks of things, and farther in the distance you can see a deep valley to the west of the mountain in the forest. Inside of which is what appears to be an entire town. It's well lit even from here, though you can't make anything in particular out.

You turn to ask Sanae about it, but amusingly it seems she's already dozing off. Your not quite sure what she's had to deal with today, but it seems to have taken quite a lot out of her. Smiling, you return to gazing out the window.

...You don't think Gensokyo will be so bad after all.

\- - -

After a couple minutes the tram slows to a stop as you approach the peak, finally jolting to a rest at another stone structure mirroring the one at the lake down below. Sanae, apparently revitalized by the brief rest, hops to her feet and grabs her bag before heading out.

“We're here!” She shouts joyfully, less directed at you and more the world if the volume is of any indication.

You glance out the door and see what you can only imagine to be Moriya Shrine.

Large wooden pillars struck into the earth, binding ropes wrapped around them, easily a hundred feet high surround a large wooden temple complex, regal and imposing all at once, this is far more than any minor shrine you might find out in the countryside. A deity lives here.

Cobblestone lines the path from the tram to the temple, and you follow behind Sanae, who seems to have a bit of an extra spring in her step as she approaches it.

As you approach the torii gate, you can see more clearly inside, besides the large main shrine building, there are several smaller structures, either housing or sub shrines you can't tell from here, you can see with some alarm that one of them is completely bifurcated by one of the pillars rammed straight through it, though shorter than the rest of the pillars, it was clearly heavy enough to almost completely split the structure.

You notice as well there are several of the pillars sticking out of the roof of the shrine building itself large holes and cracks in the structure abound. You are really hoping these are decorative art pieces and not what she meant by “battle damage”.

Before you can progress further with that line of thought however, one of the side buildings doors slam open.

Stepping from it is a very tall regal woman wearing a red and black dress, a large circular rope floating behind her, she easily dwarfs Sanae as she approaches.

Sanae quickly bows low.

“Good evening, Lady Kanako.”

The woman now dubbed Kanako however pays her no mind as she looks at you, quirking a single eyebrow.

If the shrine maiden bows at someone, it’s generally good form to bow as well. You mirror her bow, eyes on the floor. Several tense seconds pass before the woman speaks up, her voice deep and rumbling, as if of the mountain itself.

“Welcome traveler, you stand in presence of the goddess of this shrine. I am Kanako Yasaka, goddess of War. Rise.”

You rise up and return your gaze to her, she is now within a foot or two and is quite literally staring down at you, the woman must be about six and a half feet tall.

“I bid thee welcome to the Moriya shrine, rejoice and be merry for your long journey is over!” she spreads her arms out to the sides gesturing to the shrine around her.

“ From the far mountain I have watched thy approach to seek supplication and shelter, once again rejoice, for I am a generous godd- “

Her pontificating comes to an abrupt halt, as a shrill whistle being the only warning, a large metal ring slams into her spine, sending her sprawling on the ground.

She’s spread out on the ground, you step back alarmed, when the ground bursts from beneath where she was standing. Hopping out is by far one of the strangest people you’ve ever seen in your life. A young woman in robes crouching on the ground above the hole she popped out of. Topped off with a large straw hat with what appears to be toy eyes attached to it.

The young woman grins smugly at Kanako, then turns to look at you.

“Forgive ‘er, she has issues talking like ah normal person sometimes.” Her voice is bright and peppy. “Welcome to the Moriya shrine, I’m Suwako Moriya, goddess of war and curses.” She sticks out a hand for you to shake, which you manage to collect yourself enough to do so.

“So….” She asks, rocking back and forth on her heels. “Whatcha doing here?”

“I….I came with Miss Sanae, I am here to do labor for the shrine in return for shelter?” you trail off glancing at the twitching goddess laying on the ground.

“Ahaaaah,” she trails off while a smile on her face, her eyes widening with amusement.

“Good! Good! We need some help ‘round here, ‘fraid ol’ beanstalk here gets a bit punchy.” She states while chuckling and poking the prone goddess.

“Speaking a which.” She dives out of the way as a large wooden pillar shoots down in the ground where she was standing. Laughing maniacally as she tumbles across the field.

The ground starts trembling as Kanako raises herself up, glaring at Suwako, her Onibashira behind her spinning wildly as large wooden pillars raise themselves around her, aiming directly at the other goddess.

Then, with a whimpering sound from Sanae, the battle began, her face falling into her hands.

\- - -

A good five minutes later you think you can understand what was causing the ‘battle damage’. Luckily the only major damage is holes in the ground and some knocked over fences. Both goddesses are worse for the wear, though nothing more major than scratches or bruises which are already healing.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is they are perfectly friendly with each other now, laughing and joking with each other as you survey the damage.

At least it doesn’t look like they were trying to kill each other.

“Welcome again to the Moriya shrine.” Suwako speaks up. “Hope ya don’t mind the mess, ah’ll show ya to your room while Sanae gets dinner started.”

She pulls herself up and motions for you to follow her.

You walk into the interior of the temple which despite what you might expect, is in relatively good condition, besides the obvious signs that people live here. Suwako leads you down a side corridor past a large garden on the side of the building. Finally reaching the end of the corridor where a solitary door is set into the wall, the first actual door you’ve seen since entering the temple.

She yanks it open, revealing what appears to have once been an old storage room, some boxes in the corners and windows near the ceiling, a table and futon have been set up in the center, it’s clean at least.

“Sorry, we had a rather short notice you were coming.” She admits sounding a bit bashful.

“It’s quite alright, I’m grateful that you granted me shelter.”

She snickers, “well ain't you a gentleman, dinner will be ready in the main room in about twenty minutes if ya wanna get unpacked.”

A small smile falls onto her face.

“Other than that, welcome and thanks for signin’ up, Sanae needed the help.”

And with that she turns and leaves you to your business.

You empty your pockets onto the table, beyond your wallet and your phone you haven’t brought anything with you, though you figure you’ll need toiletries.

In the meantime you don’t really have anything to unpack, and you have a little bit of time to kill, you think you've already seen everything the room has to offer, simple and modest, it may take some work but you can definitely find comfort here, anything beats an alley in downtown Tokyo.

You pocket your phone and wallet and head back out of the room into the corridor, the last grasps of sunlight are reaching through the windows past the garden, giving everything a deep orange and purple glow. Twilight.

As you wander down the corridor you can glance through some cracks in the paper walls to see other storerooms mostly filled with boxes like yours was, you have honestly what they need all of them for, most of them are still sealed, those opened you cannot see inside of stacked on high, and you'd feel rude to pry.

Exiting the corridor into the main room once again, no longer following Suwako you can take a better look at your surroundings, it's certainly large and ornate, proud wooden carvings of snakes and frogs decorate the main temple hall, two garguantan snakes flanking the main altar in the center, where cast in the orange glow of twilight you can just make out incense burning.

Hanging proudly above the altar is a large painting, depicting the two goddesses from before, though unlike what you've seen so far, this is positively regal and mesmerizing. Their hair and the fall leaves almost seeming to move in the fading light, casting a sense of divinity and the supernatural.

\- - -

Turning away you continue through the main room in the opposite direction, into what appears to be another corridor though unlike the last one this has most of its doors open, and instead of a garden, the windows are overlooking several smaller structures.

Walking down the corridor you move past a pantry and what seems to be a small living area complete with mats and couches, inside of which is Suwako sitting on a chair, idly flicking channels on a...

TV?

That... was certainly one of the last things you expected to find since leaving Tokyo, much less a temple of all things, but she's idly sitting there, palm in her hand as she flicks between stations not out of place on any tv in Japan.

She gives a brief glance towards you as you stick your head into the room. Before waving with a smile and turning her head back to the television.

You head onwards through the corridor, which branches off to the right and left, though ahead is an open doorway, which going by the smell you suppose leads into the kitchen. A peek inside shows Sanae diligently working on some sort of rice dish, having traded in her shrine maidens outfit for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, complete with a white apron adorned with a frog and snake pattern.

She notices you as soon as you walk in, smiling brightly and attempting a wave before realising her hands are full. She settles for a nod instead.

“Good evening Ayumu, was the room to your liking?” she asks, not distracted from the task in front of her as she works on some form of grilled meat to go with the rice.

“Yes, it was more than enough, I appreciate it.” You say honestly.

A question pops into your out and is out of your lips before you could catch it.

“I've noticed your cooking dinner, and right after picking up the grounds a little too, don't you have the other shrine maidens to help you?” you ask, rather concerned the girl was working herself to death.

She jolts, the stirring spoon almost falling into the pot as she stirs it, and turns to you quickly.

“Oh! They are.... away!” she says, in a tone that shows someone to be a rather poor liar. 

“They are out doing mission work across the land, and wont be back for quite some time.” She states with a slight cracking tone to her voice, and you have a feeling it would perhaps be best not to pry on the matter further.

“Oh... I see, would you perhaps like some help?” you offer.

“No!” she shouts.

She clasps her hand over her mouth. “I mean... no that's fine, you are for tonight a guest, you've had a long trip and should rest, please, I can handle dinner.” She states rapidly, turning back to the pot and stirring up a frenzy.

“Alright, thank you once again for having me.” You say as you slink out of the room.

\- - -

To the right and left of the junction are nothing but short corridors with closed doors, wooden, not paper, so you think this is the limit of your exploration for now, you head back towards the living / dining area from before, Suwako apparently having decided on something to watch.

Some sort of animal show.

Watching with what appears interest as Kanako has joined her, lounging on the couch against the wall.

....Regally.

You're honestly not sure how she is pulling that off.

\- - -

You've pulled a mat from under the table and are perched on it, at the table sitting across from Suwako, watching a very dubbed British man describe the life and times of some form of toad, the television being the only source of noise.

After a few more minutes you can hear a door slide open outside and Sanae steps into the room, large pot on her hands which she sets on the table and gets to work passing out plates.

In short order everything is set up and Kanako joins you at the table, Sanae scooping out the rice and setting up the plate of meat in the center as everyone gets to eating.

Well.

Eating is a... weak word. Honestly it's only a little less violent than the battle outside before, as the two goddesses fight over various pieces of meat on the plate with their chopsticks, Sanae however seems to be in her own happy little world, eating her share with a happy smile on her face as she hardly pays attention to the two.

It calms down after enough time and the meal is finished, Kanako producing a bottle of Sake from under the couch as you all lounge around the table watching the television.

“So....” Suwako breaks the silence. Looking at you, and appearing far more serious and sober than she possibly should be considering the previous dinner and the amount of Sake she's inbided so far.

“Ayumu, you'll be working for us starin' tomorrow, so ah do hope you don't take offence.” She states with a slight slur to her voice.

“I smell animal on your, can't place the scent though, it's muddled.”

“What form of Youkai are ya?”

You notice Kanako is looking at you out of the corner of her eye, Sanae is however apparently engrossed in the show as the two goddess look at you.


	3. Dreams

You don't feel the need to lie. They are your hosts after all.

You allow the small bit of magic to collapse, your tail popping through a newly formed hole in the back of your shirt, while short black ears uncurl from your head, as if hidden by the hair before.

“I am a fox spirit,” you state simply.

Suwako eyes you, not critically, and you don't see any malice in her gaze, Kanako has already turned her head back to the TV, though you are sure she's listening in.

Suwako gives a small nod, her face far more serious than any you've on her so far today.

“So... even the foxes have moved in... I suppose it was to be expected... still, how many Youkai are even left where you came from?” She asks almost sounding like she doesn't want to hear the answer.

“Not counting me? A few hundred in Tokyo were I to guess, those that haven't faded are making plans to come to Gensokyo eventually. Though a few more... malicous ones are planning to stay as long as they can get away with.”

She holds the gaze for a moment longer after you speak, before sighing and rubbing one of her shoulders, you swear the eyes on her hat turn downcast aswell.

"I suppose that is to be expected, those such as you are a dying breed in that world... as for us well..."

She turns a quick glance at Kanako before turning back to you.

“Gensokyo is a good place, I think you'll like it here.” She states with a small smile and pat on your shoulder, before turning back to the program, the melancoly mood seemingly gone as quick as it appeared.

The night progresses with no more conversation, and an hour later everyone heads to bed, your ears and tail concealed again, more out of habit than nessecity. You bow to your hosts and head back to your room.

\- - -

It's around nine when you finally get ready to turn in for the night yourself, taking the time to fold your clothes up as neatly as you can and get comfortable, while you can freely change their appearance, you can still feel the fabric, feeling wrinkles would eventually drive you insane, and you doubt they have the luxury of a washing machine.

The moon has risen and is casting light through one of the high windows that make up the storeroom, no lightsource exists in here besides, not that that changes anything. Foxes can see in the dark.

As you lay down your mind replays the events of the day, you wonder where that Tsukumogami group ended up? You never saw them leave the train.

Come to think of it you never saw miss Wakasagi leave the train either.... your sure you missed her.

You can count yourself quite forunate in any case that you've managed to acquire lodging, and food on top of that, you had expected to rough it for at least a few days before getting settled, while certainly an.... eclectic bunch, they don't seem to mean you any harm.

The question is... what now?

Your entire life you had lived a certain way, worked with certain people, experiencing certain kind of things, and in the span of a single day it's all out of your reach, never to be seen ever again.

A good friend of yours once told you that life is never about what you are, it's about what you experience, and you've experienced more than most. You suppose from here on out you are flying blind.

It's... almost exciting, you honestly have no idea what the next day will bring.

With that final thought the exhaustion of the day catches up to you, and you fall asleep... and dream.

\- - -

A blast of cool air rushes against your face, instantly you raise your arms and shield your face from the wind, eyes snapping open.

This... isn't your room.

You are standing on the peak of a mountain, but not Youkai mountain.

You know this place, this is Inari mountain, the landscape confirms it easily, but... that isn't Kyoto, or at least that isn't your Kyoto, this is hundreds of years ago. The concrete buildings and steel skyscrapers changed to stone and wood structures, the shrine path isn't stone, it's dirt... well trodden, but dirt. Humans are milling about, wearing clothing of a style you can't quite place.

But... this all seems very real. Which is a problem.

You've never been in Kyoto during this time period.

Then all at once it hits you, a tickling at the back of your mind, a fox spirit has many abilities, shapeshifting... effecting the minds of others are all well understood, but it goes deeper than that, foxes can effect the dreams of others, but it's never a talent you've really had, but you know enough to tell one thing.

This isn't your dream.

\- - -

The shrine goers and priests move through you as if you aren't there as you wander through the shrine grounds. They are all headed in the same direction, deeper towards the main temple complex, most bearing offerings of some nature, which wouldn't be unusual.

But they move with an almost... mindless gait. Like they are sleep walking, there is no rhythm to their motions as they move through the complex.

You follow them deeper. Reacing the temple itself, the smell of incense is burning strongly as you near, looking through the large gates you see something you have not seem in a very long time.

Fox spirits, in number. Positioned around the temple, some standing guard, others serving as shrine handlers, taking offerings from the humans.

And there, standing in the middle of it all behind the altar, sits a tall blonde woman, ceremonial robes on as she sits there, nine tails sitting behind her waving gently in the breeze.

Still, you approach, nothing seeming to notice your presence. The woman's eyes are closed, as if in deep meditation as the priests and priestesses take the offerings from the humans and lay it before the altar.

Then as if on cue everything stops.

All the humans, the foxes, the wind blowing through the trees, and even the smell of incense halts as if the world decided to pause.

The woman behind the altars eyes snap open, bright and golden glowing, they lock onto you instantly. A snarl escaping her lips.

Her eyes glow brighter and brighter as they focus on you, you can feel yourself burning, your body heating up as your heart starts hammering in your chest, instantly breaking out into a sweat as a fire seems to light inside of your body.

You fall to the ground clutching at your chest, panting and blinking rapidly.

It's too hot.

It's burning you. It burns, it hurts, it burns, indescribable pain rushing through every nerve in your body as you feel your systems failing.

You have to get away.

YOU HAVE TO GET AWAY.

Your eyes snap open again, the feeling of cold air washing over you, clutching your chest still, leaving deep red marks, you are back in your room, panting.

No more than a few hours could have passed, since you first fell asleep, your sitting up on the futon, still breathing somewhat heavily as you try to workout what just happened. Your right hand is stained with blood, having punctured the skin when you grabbed your chest.

Yet nothing else is out of the ordinary.

You want no part of sleep right now, you slip your trousers back on and step out of the room, into the corridor. It's minimally lit, the moon now overhead, casting little light into the corridor, though it lights the garden clearly, watching the plants wave gently in the mountain breeze doing wonders for your pulse rate.

Now that your breath has caught up to you, you start to try and process what you saw.

You haven't seen that many fox spirits in a hundred years, and never seen one with all nine tails, most hardly last that long, usually undone by their own plotting or others plotting against them. While the tengu of course had a society, along with the Oni and some Kappa, the Kitsune are one of the few that could be said to have a bureaucracy, with all the backstabbing and double dealings that implies.

One that you heavily avoided when and if all possible. So that once again begs the question, what was that you just bore witness to. Was it real? You don't recall there ever being a nine tails active in Kyoto, not in the past nine hundred years.

The last one recorded was Tamano-no-mae, and there was more legend than fact with her story. So if there was another you would have certainly heard about it, but you never had.

Yet what you saw there... was too realistic and detailed to be a mere nighttime fable, someone or something was dreaming of something that occured, though you cannot tell if there were any embellishments, one thing is for certain.

Somewhere in this land is another Fox Spirit, or someone very close to them.

Still, you feel you will get no more information pondering about it, you suppose you can ask your caretakers about any other fox spirits in the morning. In the meantime you head back into your room and try to relax. Sleep does not come easy.

But when it comes it comes dreamless.

\- - -

You wake up relatively well rested all things considered and try to freshen up, realising somewhat awkwardly that you were never quite told where the bathroom was. A slightly desperate search later and you find that further room down in your corridor is actually a small bathroom complete with a shower.

Indoor plumping, the goddesses aren't exactly roughing out here on top of the mountain, but you absolutely are not complaining.

You cast an illusion on your clothes, 'freshening' them up a bit, removing the appearance of dirt and wrinkles, though you'll still need a wash for them... and more clothes in general.

Luckily for you, the bathroom was already stocked with soap and basic amenities, and you head towards the main room after cleaning up.

It's quiet, either morning prayers haven't started yet, or they aren't going to happen at all. Then again, the necessity of prayer quickly goes out the window when the Gods in question are two rooms over, passing through you continue onwards towards the living/dining room, it appears you aren't the only one up, Kanako is sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in her hand. Having traded in yesterday's outfit for a rather contemporary look of jeans and a sweater.

She gives you a slow nod, barely turning her attention away from the cup currently doing more to warm her hands than the rest of her, it appears she's a slow riser.

You sit down at the table across from her, the TV showing the morning news.... of Osaka. Not entirely helpful, but it's noise, your attention is instead drawn to all things a newspaper sitting on the table.

“Bunbunmaru'' is proudly displayed as the header of the paper, and it is indeed a genuine newspaper, you give it a cursory glance.

“Newcomers in Gensokyo!” Is the main headline, going into brief detail about the arrival of several new youkai via transfer from the outside world, though it fails to go into any real detail, the reporter apparently tried to reach out to Lady Yukari, though was unable to locate her for comment.

There's a photograph of the train station as well, looks to be before the train arrived.

“Welcoming committee ends in an all out brawl!”

You certainly don't remember any fights breaking out, though the Shinto booth and the Buddhist booth certainly traded barbs back and forth, you don't think anyone would be quite so foolish as to start a fight.

Though something does catch your eye as you take another glance of the picture, the Moriya stall compared to the others isn't fully there, the base of it is, and you can see the banner off to the side, but it's in pieces, the others are completed. A side pictures solves the mystery, you can see Sanae in the background carrying lumber. She must have constructed it at the station. It certainly explains her exhaustion, that's... some dedication alright.

Though you don't blame her for trying to drag the thing down the mountain.

How long was she out there?

…

The other articles don't attract your attention near as much, there's actually ads and a classified section in this thing, though nothing that particularly catches your interest. Between the indoor plumbing and the apparent mountaintop paper delivery you are getting less out of your element by the moment, if they actually have the internet out here your not quite sure how'd you handle it.

You set the paper back on the table, a cursory glance confirms that Kanako is in fact still alive and getting better, it appears now that the coffee is more in her system than in her hands she has woken up. Watching the tv with some interest as the newscaster goes over some sort of festival occuring.

You excuse yourself and head towards the kitchen to see if you could start breakfast for yourself, but it appears someone has already beat you to it, Suwako and Sanae are in there making what appear to be scrambled eggs and toast, neither notices your presence as you peer into the room.

Talking amongst themselves as they prepare the food, you feel as if it would be rude to interrupt, and you head back to the dining area, a short time later Suwako joins you at the table, chirping a bright good morning which you return, either she's already had her coffee or she's naturally energetic.

Sanae follows shortly behind with breakfast and sets it out on the table, hardly a word was spoken as you all eat.

\- - -

Sanae is putting away the dishes as Kanako heads back to her room, apparently she has a meeting with the local Tengu today, so she has to “goddess up” so to speak. Suwako's wording, not yours.

You're left with Suwako at the table, and you figure it would be a good time to broach the subject.

“Lady Suwako? A question if I may.”

“You may.” She says, smirking. 

“Are you aware of any other Fox Spirits in gensokyo? I'm curious how many of my own kind are out here.” You state the question as nonchalantly as you can.

“Hmm... none on the mountain, there's at least two I know of, one hangs around at the Hakurei shrine.”

“The Hakurei shrine?” you interrupt.

“Oh right, you aren't acquatained yet, think of them as the... border patrol for lack of a better term, though it is quite literal, the Shrine maiden guards the border and quells any incidents. I'm sure you'll meet her eventually. The other is a retainer of the Yakumo.”

“As in Yukari Yakumo?“ you say, wincing slightly as you realize you’ve interrupted the goddess twice now. 

“The very same...”

“She has a nine tails as one of her servants.” She states as if she was describing the weather.

Your breath hitches in your throat.

That's... unfathomable, to have a Fox spirit as a servant is already a sign of power, but a nine tails on top of that spoke of deity levels of ability, you know Yukari was powerful, but if that's true she's far beyond even your previous thoughts.

The thought almost distracts you from the other piece of information, there is a nine-tails in this land, though that doesn't still fully explain the dream. In the dream that Fox had nine tails... which means every hundred years she should lose one until she reaches the stages of divinity. But to still have all nine, either this is a different beast, or something else is going on.

“Oi, you okay boy?”

You snap out of your thoughts,

“Oh. Sorry, didn't expect there to be a nine tails in these lands... they aren't... common.” You trail off, a bit embarrassed.

“Ah, personally I've never met 'er, she mostly keeps to 'erself from what I understand.”

You nod. “Thank you for the information,” and trying to change the subject. “What is on the agenda today?”

She taps a finger on her chin. “Weeeell today I think y'all be working with Sanae to start repairing some of the exterior damage from yesterday, then move on from there once ya finish, shouldn't take ya very long.” You swear her drawl is becoming more pronounced the more she speaks.

“Sanae was having to do most of it 'erself before, 'fraid our duties keep us busy, so things should get done a lot quicker 'round here,” she states with a wide grin on her face.

“I know Kanako is meeting the Tengu today, what are you doing?” You ask.

“I'm meeting a local curse god to settle a dispute going on, nothin' major, she states with a shrug.

Should be back 'round noon. In the meantime I'd just suggest doing whatever Sanae asks of ya.”

You nod as she stands up and starts walking out of the room.

“Oh, and Ayumu?” She states as she reaches the threshold of the door.

“Yes?”

“If ya have anymore trouble sleepin' feel free to come talk to me during the night, I'm usually out in the garden.” She states closing the door behind her.

You blink, she must have seen you when you stepped out of your room last night. Though your not quite sure how, you never saw her, then again...

Goddess.

\---

Sanae calls out to you about half an hour later from outside. She's traded in her usual garb for working pants and a long sleeve shirt, she's smiling brightly as you approach, a wheelbarrow and tools of all shapes and sizes arranged on the ground.

“Today Ayumu you will start your grand task of providing faith for the goddesses, by good, pure, backbreaking work!” She states proudly with her hands pressed against her sides. “I'll be working on the holes while you get to work repairing the fence!”

She gestures to the small wood railing fence that surrounds sections of the grounds, bits of it were knocked over and broken during the fight yesterday, luckily it appears this was a frequent enough occurence that there is plenty of wood available to replace it.

It's not too bad, but it will take awhile, and with a nod and some extra instructions on where to find more tools if you need it you get to work.

\- - -

The damage is less bad than you thought, barring a few sections crushed by those wooden poles Kanako seems to be so fond of most of them were just knocked over by the heavy winds. It takes more than a little effort to cut down and remove those poles, but beyond that it's a simple matter of righting what is knocked over and replacing the few boards that have broken.

As you are finishing up you realise that you could probably save a good amount of time in the future if you had simply burned away the poles, and come to think of it you could probably wave away a good chunk of the cosmetic damage to the temple with illusions, it wouldn't fix it in the long run, but would definitely make the place more presentable.

Staring at one of the small structures that was cut in half by one of the poles, one of the ones that was already damaged before you came here, you figure you could for the time being just illusion away the damage and give the appearance of a normal structure, it's something you figure you should bring up to Sanae.

\- - -

It's around noon when Suwako returns as she stated she would, however she does have someone you haven't seen before in tow, another woman with green hair, somehow at this point that doesn't surprise you, however unlike Sanae's white and blue ensemble, this woman is wearing a complicated red and white....?

You're just going to call it a dress, topped out with a massive red ribbon on her head bobbing as she walks with Suwako towards the temple.

… What odd clothing.


	4. Unfair

Well... might as well be friendly. With a grunt you shove the shovel into the dirt and walk over, shouting a greeting and raising an arm as you do so. Suwako blinks, then she turns from her conversation with a slight look of confusion as she stares at you, before seemingly remembering who you were and waving back with a smile, dragging the woman in red behind her a little as she runs over to you.

“Afternoon Ayumu!” she rather unnecessarily shouts as she stops in front of you.

She lets out a appreciative whistle as she looks over the grounds, which barring a few holes that Sanae is still working on is looking like nothing ever happened at all. That's just the grounds however, several sections of the roof looks like a rather oversized pincushion. Seriously, where does Kanako even get the things?

“See ya been busy!” She nods happily. Before spinning to point at the woman in red.

“Ayumu, this is Hina, Hina, this is Ayumu. Ayumu's a new helper at our shrine, just arrived in Gensokyo yesterday.” 

Hina smiles at you and gives a slight curtsy. “Pleasure to meet you," she states as she rises, "I do hope you enjoy your stay here.“ Her voice is soft as though afraid of breaking a nonexistent silence. “As she says I am Hina, Kagamiya Hina, a local goddess of the river. It is once again a pleasure to make your acquaintance”, and you are fairly sure she means if if that beatific smile is anything to go by, it's almost kinda creepy.

“Where's Sanae?” Suwako asks, still glancing about at your work.

“Working out in the back garden filling in more holes last I checked, though it's been a good hour. I'm almost finished up here myself so I wouldn't be surprised if she's near finished, if not finished already.” You state with a shrug.

She nods with her eyes closed, hand on her chin as if coming to some important decision.

“Alright, I'm going to go get lunch started, when ya finish up head inside for a shower, after lunch we're going to be gettin' started on your acclimation into Gensokyo.”

“...Acclimation?” You trail off.

“Yep! Going to take ya into town and get ya some new clothes, can't have you working in a suit. Then help ya grab whatever else you need. Then if we still have time we'll get to work on spellcard trainin'. “

“Spellcards?" you ask... like magic tricks?

“Oh... right, ya never heard of the Hakurei so you haven't probably heard of that either...”

She sticks her tongue out and rifles through the inside of one of her gigantic sleeves, before producing some sort of card and waving it in front of your face. It's an image of the goddess herself, surrounded by beams of bright light. Text at the bottom of the card states.

'Party Start : Two Bows – One Clap – And One Bow' 

She places it back into her sleeve with a cheeky grin. “I'll explain more later, but let’s just say it's what we use to settle fights peacefully 'round here.”

She then starts walking towards the temple with Hina in tow, as she is just to walking up the wooden steps you realize something.

“But Lady Suwako, when you were fighting yesterday I didn't see you use any cards.” You call out after her.

“Oh, that's simple.” She drawls. She turns her head toward you with a smirk, “that's cause we were trying to kill each other.”

She turns back laughing loudly as she continues into the temple.

\- - -

You finish up your work a short while later and head into the temple, taking a shower and managing to get all of the dirt off.

Sadly no amount of illusions will disguise the smell of your shirt at the moment, you do the best you can and hang it up while you shower to hopefully get some of the smell out, but you are definitely grateful at the opportunity to buy new clothes.

You cross the main room of the temple and head into the dining area, to see Sanae chatting amicably with Hina, Sanae apparently had a chance to freshen up as well, having changed into her shrine clothes as she sits next to Hina drinking tea.

“Hello again mister Ayumu,” Hina states, nodding to you as you enter.

Sanae gestures for you to sit and pours you a cup of tea as well, before going back to her conversation with Hina, seems to be something about a local Kappa getting into a fight with a tengu. You’re honestly more interested in drinking the tea and waiting for lunch letting the last of the soreness fade from your muscles.

A short time later Suwako comes into the room carrying small sandwiches which you eat gratefully.

“So Sanae,” Suwako speaks up.

“Yes?” Sanae asks swallowing quickly.

“I’ll be taking Ayumu into town after lunch, help get him acclimated.” Suwako states, nibbling idly at a sandwich.

“Oh, will I be coming with you Lady Suwako?”

“No. I need you to deliver something to Kanako.” She states with a tone that begets no argument.

“Oh... alright,” Sanae states, pouting slightly.

\- - -

After lunch Hina heads on her way, Sanae heading out shortly afterwards as well carrying a large wooden chest strapped to her back.

Your curious what she is delivering, but don’t figure it would be polite to ask.

You head out the front of the temple to meet up with Suwako, and see her standing at the gate bouncing on her feet like an excited kid.

“Alright! Lets get going then.”

She reaches out and snatches your hand.

You move to start towards the tram when a sharp tug of your arm stops your movement, and you look at the small goddess quizzically.

“If ya don’t hold on tight this might end very unpleasantly for ya.”

And you watch as she starts gently floating off the ground, and with another tug you find yourself up floating with her.

“Now, just keep a firm grip on my hand, and enjoy the ride, If ya fall I ain't catching ya.”

It feels like you’re floating in zero gravity. You can feel the wind gently blowing against you but you aren’t moving as Suwako keeps a firm grip on your hand.

She starts slowly moving forward, dragging you along with her as you start moving out of the temple grounds and down the mountain.

You’re not much one for fear of heights, but nothing holding you up over several hundred feet of air is a different matter entirely, you try to remind yourself that you are four hundred years old, and calm down. Compared to before the sound of the waterfall is deafening as is falls down the mountain, you can see other beings flying around it as well, though more naturally it appears, tengu with black wings sticking out of their back flying around gently.

“You can fly Lady Suwako?” Realizing how stupid the question is as soon as it leaves your mouth.

“Nope!” She replies, shouting to be heard over the waterfall, she waves her free hand in front of your face, in it you can see a silver gray card like the one she showed you earlier, though this one is completely blank barring a wing icon in the center.

“Benefits of the spellcard system!” She yells cheerfully, you suppose she’ll explain more later.

You pass over the lake at the base of the mountain as you descend down the mountain and fly over the forest towards the village picking up speed gradually.

After a few minutes you pass by what remains of the train station, most of it having been carted away already, and she slows to a stop on the path leading to the village, a good hundred feet away or so.

“Welcome to the human village.” She stretches out her arms as if revealing some grand surprise.

And with a light hop to her step she starts walking down the path towards the village, you quickly start following behind.

\- - -

You didn’t really get a view of the village before as you headed in the opposite direction with Sanae, but it’s rather more impressive than you guessed.

A tall wooden wall surrounds the structure, and through its open gate you can see well made stone structures, mixed with smaller wooden ones. The road itself as you approach is paved stone. The entrance to the village is guarded at the gate by two human men wielding spears, but they don’t do more than give you a brief look as you approach and walk through the gate.

It’s densely populated, humans of all ages milling about, some hawking wares near the gate entrance, others milling about or walking to other parts of the village.

What really surprises you is the amount of Youkai you see milling about as well, a group of tengu is bartering with a jeweler, and across the ways you can see some Oni drinking at a bar. Easily given away by their horns, Suwako pays it no mind and nobody pays particular mind to her either as she continues walking along, taking you deeper into the town until you approach a large shop.

‘Uwabami Tailors’

The sign above the door proclaims. A cozy shop filled to the brim with clothing of all styles and sizes, all the doors and windows open wide to let in fresh air.

“Let’s get you some clothing.” Suwako chirps.

Luckily for you a lot of this actually seems to be imported from the outside world, beyond a few more rustic options, nothing would be particularly out of place at your average department store.

In a short amount of time you have some pairs of jeans and basic shirts picked out, good working clothes, it will drain the last of your funds but it will save some headaches, though you’ll need to figure out how to earn more in the future.

Suwako herself is rather insistent on getting some form of hat for you, but you shy away from it. Never been one for wearing them yourself.

You pay the young woman working the counter and walk out with Suwako, bag of clothing in tow.

“Anything else you needin’?” Suwako asks, looking around the street.

“Nothing I believe, unless there’s something I need to see in town.” You trail off.

“Hmm… no I’m sure you’ll be ‘round here again soon enough, lets head back to the shrine so you can put your clothes away and get started on yer trainin’. You'll need it 'roun these parts, some of the Youkai get a little belligerent.”

You nod in understanding, and Suwako grabs your hand again, lifting you off the ground along with her, and you begin the flight back to the shrine again, clutching the bag to your chest.

\- - -

Suwako drops you off in the middle of the grounds and asks you to drop off your clothes then head down the stairs in the back. She goes flying off in that direction briefly after.

You head into your room and hang up your clothes as best you can in the small closet the former storeroom has, changing into a pair of jeans and a shirt, before heading out through the garden into the back of the temple.

You approach what appears to be a stone staircase going down the opposite end of the mountain ending in a clearing about a hundred feet down, in the clearing you can see Suwako sitting, likely waiting for you.

You walk carefully down the stairs before stopping in the clearing, it’s not natural, the dirt here is rough and recently cleared of all grass, surrounded it is thick forest. Suwako sits up as you approach, holding towards you a small black wooden box which you carefully take and open.

Inside of which is a small stack of cards, blank, with a small border around them of golden leaves, the surface of them is reflective in the light, flashing.

“Take one and place the rest on the ground.” Suwako states, in a quiet but firm tone.

You take one card out of the box, and place the rest on the dirt besides you.

“Hold it to your head, and think of one of your abilities, the card will do the rest.”

You do as she says, pressing the card gently against your forehead and think about your abilities, nothing happens at first, but then you feel a brief thrum of energy between you and the card, and you open your eyes again.

The card now has a image of you on it, throwing blue foxfire out of your hand, as you look at it, text starts forming along the bottom of the card in silvery lettering.

‘Fox Sign – Flame of Miyagi’

“Oooh not bad.” You jump as Suwako has seemingly materialized behind you, looking at the card with obvious interest. The earlier seriousness she displayed long gone.

“Now listen carefully, I want you to channel your magic into the card, and hold it out in front of you.”

You nod slowly and hold the card in front of you with your right hand, channeling magic into your arm.

You can feel the card drawing in the energy, glowing briefly, before catching on fire, it only takes a brief moment however to realize the card itself isn’t on fire, but your hand is, mimicking the appearance of foxfire, but no heat with it.

Fluctuating your energy increases and decreases the flame in tandem, and with Suwako’s prodding, you are able to move it between hands and throw it out of them, which causes it to explode in a ball of fire as it impacts the ground.

“Not bad at all rookie! Let’s try another one!” She states, handing you another card.

Like before you hold it to your held, feel the brief surge of energy before pulling it back, revealing a stylized image of three foxes.

‘Fox Sign – What Was Not there’

A brief surge of magical energy through the card, and you can see copies of yourself standing next to you, mimicking your every action.

The card seems to be duplicating your illusion magic.

Not bad, not bad at all.

\- - -

“You can go ahead and keep the box, but that’s enough for now. Oh, and you’ll want one of these.” She fishes out of her sleeve a card you saw from earlier, one of the ones that allowed her to fly.

“I keep spares; we can go over that some other time.”

She glances around the clearing, and then leans forward conspiratorially.

“How’d you like to give ‘em a try in a bit more excitin’ fashion?”

You nod, sure, what does she have in mind?

She stands there staring at you, a smile rapidly growing on her face.

“Duck!”

That’s the only warning you get as a large beam of light shoots out of her right hand, shooting right where you head just was, crashing into the forest behind you with a loud bang.

You just barely got out of the way in time, rolling to the side as she produces two iron rings from a card and starts spinning them around her arms.

They spin faster and faster becoming blurs before she launches one at you, the other she tosses pass you, you jump out of the way of the first one, only to get slammed in behind by the other one, sending you tumbling along the ground with a groan.

That… really hurt.

“Get on up boy; you can’t fight me by just dodging!” She punctuates that statement with an almost maniacal cackle.

You grit your teeth and push yourself up, grabbing one of your spellcards and channeling magic into it.

Fire, yeah, that’ll work.

You channel magic into your hands and start shooting it out at her, compared to the beam she shot earlier it’s pitiful, but you can shoot a lot of it, forcing her to dodge around, cart wheeling and jumping out of the way of the flames.

“Yes, that’s it boy, not bad keep it up!” She’s not taking this particularly seriously. Taking far too much enjoyment out of dodging at the last second and performing tricks in midair, you grab your illusion card in your other hand and channel magic into it.

Three copies of yourself spring to life around you, sending out fire of their own, you’re not sure the flames will actually have any effect, but it does certainly LOOK like you’ve increased your firepower, forcing her to take dodging a bit more seriously as she cannot seem to tell which is real and which isn’t.

She jumps high into the air and spins like a top before diving headfirst into the ground, far from smashing into it; she dives straight through it like it was water, disappearing from view. You stop throwing the fire, looking around carefully, trying to keep an eye on every direction she could pop out from.

“Frog hunt – The Snake Eats the Croaking Frog!”

Suwako’s voice resonates across the clearing as the ground explodes beneath you, launching you flying back as a large white snake bursts out of the newly formed hole and hisses at you.

You eye it carefully before it rears back and dives towards you, you leap back into the forest line in the hope that it will crash into one of the trees in its dive for you. It dives past you as you duck behind a tree, before it catches it’s momentum by latching and wrapping around one of the tall tree branches.

It turns its focus on you once more before rearing its head back; a thick mist starts shooting out of its mouth quickly covering the area in a thick fog as you jump back into the clearing. You dismiss the illusions; they won’t give you any benefit of this fog, and move carefully through the clearing. Waiting and listening, you can hear the hissing of the snake through the fog, but cannot see it.

“Divine Tool – Moriya’s Iron Ring!”

Suwako’s voice rings out again, seemingly coming from every direction in the fog, a flash of golden light to your side is your only warning as one of her iron rings flash through the fog, glowing golden as it smashes into your side, sending you flying clear across the clearing into a tree.

You hear the shrill whistling of the rings through the fog as you slide down the tree, a surge of adrenaline allowing you to dive out of the way as another comes cutting through the fog and embeds itself into the tree.

You are fairly certain Suwako is trying to kill you at this point; you produce your spellcard and start shooting wildly into the fog, attempting to hit any rings before they could sneak into you. You can feel it draining your magical energy like a siphon, but you think you can manage to keep it up a bit more, if you could just find where she’s hidi-

There, you see it! Her hat is sitting on the ground partially buried in the dirt, the eyes on top darting around wildly. You rush over to it, sliding under another ring sent flying your way and you snatch up the hat, fully expected to see the goddess underneath it buried in the dirt.

“Ribbit.”

You stare in confusion at the small frog that was sitting underneath the hat. Staring up at your quizzically.

"Clap Daidarabotchi's Worship!"

A Set of large stone hands shoot out of the ground around you, slamming together around your form trapping you in place. It’s gripping you like a vice, you can’t move at all, having just enough space to breath.

A loud hiss sounds right behind your head as you turn and see the glowing red eyes of the white snake from before, staring at you. For the final time it rears back and dives at you, your eyes slamming shut as you try one final time to break free!

\- - -

…Nothing happens, you stand there trapped, eyes closed, waiting for an oversized snake to slam into you, when you start hearing giggling, you crack one eye open to see the snake and fog gone, Suwako standing in front of you.

“Not bad at all rookie, we’ll get you in fighting shape yet!” She declares, clapping her hands together as the stone hands crack and fade away, freeing you to fall to the ground. You lay there, panting and feeling the pains fading from your body surprisingly rapidly.

“You used a lot of magic boy, but don’t worry, it’s impossible to actually cause permanent injuries using spellcards, ‘ssuming you don’t fall off a cliff or somthin' of course.” She states with another chuckle, helping you up and brushing dirt off your back.

She hops back balancing on her heels before speaking up again.

“Ya got speed and agility, just gotta work on your awareness and firepower.” She nods with her hand on her chin, as if some great teacher imparting wisdom.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll beat it into ya!” She states, hopping forward again to slap you on the back.

“Comeon, lets get you back into the temple. I'll show you where you can get your clothes washed then we get get dinner started for when those two come ba-” She trails off mid sentence and you look at her in confusion.

She seems to be staring off into space, her mouth still open as if she was interrupted in the middle of her sentence.

Then at once, she turns to you, fully serious once again.

“Ayumu, go into the Temple and just relax for a bit, I've gotta go help Kanako with something, if none of us are back by nighfall, just go ahead and make yourself dinner.” She doesn't explain anymore as she pulls out the flight card and and takes off towards the human village. 

Leaving you alone with your bruises.

Damn.


	5. Nightmare

Whatever happened she's left in a hurry, and you think it would be best to follow her instruction. You don't know the lay of the land yet, and you are sure she can handle whatever it is that grabbed her attention.

At least, that is what your ribs are currently telling you, nothing left a mark, but it still hurts.

You walk slowly up the stone steps and back into the temple.

The sun is just starting to set as you reach the crest of the mountain, bathing the grounds once again in golden light as you continue walking the path into the temple. It appears since you've been gone nobody has come back, the grounds are deserted as is the interior, you suppose you could get dinner started.

\- - -

They are surprisingly well stocked. Meats, vegetables, cheeses, enough to make anything you want, though you just make an easy rice dish, not wanting to burn through their groceries. Eating in silence as the TV drones on about some politician being outed Tokyo for several murders.

One hour quickly turns into two, still no sign of anyone coming back, you put the dishes away and start getting ready for bed.

You get settled in your room, carefully setting the box of cards in the closet with your clothes, your spellcards you created you set gently besides the bed, you'll need to figure out a better way to carry them.

And with that you start relaxing before finally falling asleep.

\- - -

Once again you dream, almost as soon as you close your eyes you are somewhere else...

Somewhere... Different.

A thick fog bank rolls in around you, you stand there, watching it roll by, quickly like a fierce wind was pushing it, but you feel nothing. The fog is flashing colors, light the sun was shining through it, but nothing natural.

Purple, Red, Green, and Blue.

Hues flashing repeatedly over and over. Like someone shining a spotlight through the fog. Dizzying and mesmerizing as you stand in the middle of it.

Than as soon as you acknowledge it, it fades away, revealing a verdant landscape, stretching for miles in all directions. A gentle rolling river running through it, going off into the distance into a thick forest, colored with the shades of autumn.

In front of you sits a girl? Woman? Watching the water flow by, their back is to you. Their form muddled, like a smudge on a lines.

You don't recognize them... Do you?

Their image, though muddled, reminds you... of colors. 

The nearest one is purple, and you hesitantly reach out for it, then, faster than you can process you are somewhere else. The blurry figure from before comes clear.

You know her.

Yukari Yakumo is lying on her side by the river, watching the water run past. It's been a very long time since you've seen her, you've never spoken to her, but she came to visit the foxes more than once. The most you know of her is that she is very very old, and very VERY powerful.

She slowly turns her head to glance at you, a single violet eye looking at you quizzically, before she smiles and pats the grass beside her, looking back over the river again.

Far be it from you to turn down her invitation, you slowly walk and and sit next to her.

She is staring wistfully at the water, hand dipped in it and moving around slowly, stirring it.

“Good evening Ayumu.” Her voice coming out a whisper, so quiet you can barely hear it over the water.

You still as she mentions your name, and you give her a nervous glance.

“Oh don't think twice about it, I know everyone's name.” She says, still quiet but with a touch of playfulness. 

As she finishes speaking the water where her hand is touching glows purple and flashes briefly before revealing a image in the water, like someone had placed a picture just beneath the surface. It's you stepping out of the train at the station, two days ago.

“It is my job to watch the border, and to that end monitor all comings and going through it.” She states, as if she was describing the weather.

“But what IS interesting.” The image is replaced by a new one.

A young girl, purple bangs sticking out under a heavy cloak concealing most of her form, running out of an... upside-down castle? Beside her another woman with red and black hair, equally hooded, running behind her. In the background you can see others chasing after them.

“Unfortunately not all incidents come from outside sources, it appears someone is attempting to cause a 'revolution'.”

“A... revolution?” You stare at the image attempting to make out any further details.

“Someone has stolen away the inchling princess, along with a powerful artifact. She is attempting to use it to change the natural order of things.” She waves away the image with her hand, stirring the water again.

“Do... do you know who they are?” You ask confused at this whole situation.

“The princess, yes. She has been here for some time, the other, the one who spirited her away, is hidden from me. It is... vexing.” She grits her teeth at the last phrase.

“Worse yet is the artifact they stole. It increases the power of anyone wielding it, along with many other effects, some still unknown. But it comes with a heavy cost. Wielding it will effect the minds of those around it, bringing out base, more violent instincts, it will throw the land into chaos.” She explains.

She's panting slightly with a light sweat on her forehead. As though it is an act of effort to speak.

“I cannot control dreams, nor will I remember this conversation when I wake more than likely. I would have you do something for me.” She turns her head and stares into your eyes, the violet in her irises pulsing and glowing with power.

“Yes?”

“I would have you speak to the goddesses of what I have told and shown you, they will know what to do, they have dealt with similar situations in the past.” She slowly starts standing up. Raising a hand to pull you up with her.

You accept it and stand up next to her.

“I would ask of you one other thing.”

Her eyes are glowing to the point of hurting to look at, you glance away looking at the river.

...  
...  
…

The river isn't flowing. It's halted in place, as though frozen in time. There is no breeze, there is no sound except the now heavy panting of Yukari.

There is a sudden weight in your right hand, like you forgot you were carrying something. You look down, in a tight grip is a small golden...

Mallet?

It's golden in color with a detailed and intricate pattern running across it.

“One very small, yet very important thing.”

You look back up at Yukari, she is holding out a hand towards you, her digits glowing a deep pulsing purple.

“Yes?” You glance between her and the mallet.

“DIE.” She growls.

Purple light shoots out of her fingertips, piercing your chest and your heart, blood flying out of your mouth as you don't even have time to react. You fall backwards towards the ground as your vision blacks out.

\- - -

You wake with a start, breathing deeply.

Another nightmare?

You reach up to wipe the sweat from your face, grunting as you slap your face with a piece of...

Paper?

You look at your hand. In it a spellcard, deep purple bordered by golden strings. A single eye is centered on the card, the same kind you've seen on Yukari's gaps.

This just keeps getting stranger and stranger.

\- - -

You slowly get up and glance out the high window, you can't see the moon, so it's either late night or still early evening.

You walked to the door and open it, allowing the cold night air of the corridor to wash over your body, waking up sweating like a kit being chased by the farmer can't be healthy.

You look out over the garden, not seeing the moon here either, that hopefully means it's early morning and you didn't miss much sleep.

Hopefully Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae managed to make it back, you suppose you should tell them what you saw, if they don't know already, though you wonder how you could even approach the subject.

One of the most powerful beings appeared in my dreams, told me that everything was going to go to shit, then murdered me?

Not exactly the story of a sane man, but she did say they would know what do you. You turn to head back into your room when.

There.

Something just moved in the shadows cast by the moonlight in the garden. At least, if your mind isn't playing tricks on you, someone or something darted through the darkness, but nothing can be seen anymore.

You feel nothing in the air, nor can you sense anything, nothing just the moonlight and the repetitive sound of crickets in the night air.`


End file.
